Between 1844 and 1849, the Canadian Parliament sat in Sainte-Anne's Market, formerly located on the site of the parking lot across from the Centre d'histoire de Montréal. The marketplace was linked to the collector sewer, for waste disposal, and served the western part of the old town as well as the adjacent Sainte-Anne district, where many Irish immigrants settled. After Tory rioters burned down the Parliament building in 1849, the seat
of government alternated between
Toronto (Ontario) and Quebec before being permanently installed in Ottawa.

After it was rebuilt, the market was levelled by another fireóan accidental one this time. A square was built on the site in 1902 and it was finally given over to automobiles in the 1920s.And soon it will be a square again.